Lot Essay
Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal (1863-1931) completed his bronze figure Here I Am in 1923 and exhibited it the same year at the Royal Academy. The figure was part of a War Memorial erected at Eton at the instigation of the Earl of Cavan, in the form of a colonnade, and intended for the playing fields. The figure of Here I Am was subsequently moved into the School Hall, and sold during the 1960s. In 1921, prior to its Royal Academy viewing, Kineton Parkes (op. cit.) described the work: "Another recent work is a nude figure for the Eton Playing Fields, Here I Am, which is part of the Eton War Memorial, the youth of the great school offering itself at its country's call...". This title was taken from the Old Testament, I Samuel, 3:4-10, in which Samuel's response to the voice of God in the Temple was "Here I Am, Take Me".
Here I Am followed on from a series of memorial and public commissions Mackennal executed during the early decades of the 20th century, and confirmed his pre-eminence as the fashionable and successful sculptor of the day. The most notable of these were the Equestrian Figure of Edward VII on a base designed by Lutyens of 1921 for Waterloo Place and the Edward VII Memorial for St George's Chapel, Windsor again with Edwin Lutyens.
Stylistically and thematically however, Here I Am relates to another series of works begining with the Circe of 1892, continuing with the Apollo Driving the Horses of the Sun for the pediment of Australia House of 1919-24 and the War Memorial erected at Cliveden by the Canadian Red Cross for the men who fought in France of 1920. All four works treat the subject of a standing figure with outstretched arms. This hierarchical symbol ultimately derives from the Antique, in particular the Berlin Adorante, though the influence of Rodin is equally felt, under whom Mackennal worked and of whom he said: "... the most marvellous modeller in the world and the greatest searcher after Truth. He was the first man whose work made me understand that art is not Nature, but something grander and superimposed on nature".
The Circe was the first of these self sufficient images of tense nudes with the compelling gesture of the arms and hands. The figure which forms the Cliveden Memorial is a clothed female figure, her arms are stretched out to her sides, and she is close in sentiment to the present bronze. Finally, the Apollo from the Australia House pediment is another nude male figure standing erect with the bold open-armed gesture. Mackennal was able to exploit this strong symbolic format thanks to his accurate knowledge of the human anatomy and sensitive modelling. Though an almost rigid composition, he was able to imbue each of the figures with an emotional depth and psychological intensity. Here I Am is an eloquent testimony of youth and courage, tensely conveyed by the pure dynamic lines and made poignant by the intensity of the young face. As Sturgeon wrote: "Mackennal's achievement was to invest his classically derived and stylised allegories with genuine spirituality and calm grandeur" (op. cit., p. 70). Here I Am is a rare and apparently unique bronze cast encapsulating Mackennal's late powerfully symbolic work.
Here I Am followed on from a series of memorial and public commissions Mackennal executed during the early decades of the 20th century, and confirmed his pre-eminence as the fashionable and successful sculptor of the day. The most notable of these were the Equestrian Figure of Edward VII on a base designed by Lutyens of 1921 for Waterloo Place and the Edward VII Memorial for St George's Chapel, Windsor again with Edwin Lutyens.
Stylistically and thematically however, Here I Am relates to another series of works begining with the Circe of 1892, continuing with the Apollo Driving the Horses of the Sun for the pediment of Australia House of 1919-24 and the War Memorial erected at Cliveden by the Canadian Red Cross for the men who fought in France of 1920. All four works treat the subject of a standing figure with outstretched arms. This hierarchical symbol ultimately derives from the Antique, in particular the Berlin Adorante, though the influence of Rodin is equally felt, under whom Mackennal worked and of whom he said: "... the most marvellous modeller in the world and the greatest searcher after Truth. He was the first man whose work made me understand that art is not Nature, but something grander and superimposed on nature".
The Circe was the first of these self sufficient images of tense nudes with the compelling gesture of the arms and hands. The figure which forms the Cliveden Memorial is a clothed female figure, her arms are stretched out to her sides, and she is close in sentiment to the present bronze. Finally, the Apollo from the Australia House pediment is another nude male figure standing erect with the bold open-armed gesture. Mackennal was able to exploit this strong symbolic format thanks to his accurate knowledge of the human anatomy and sensitive modelling. Though an almost rigid composition, he was able to imbue each of the figures with an emotional depth and psychological intensity. Here I Am is an eloquent testimony of youth and courage, tensely conveyed by the pure dynamic lines and made poignant by the intensity of the young face. As Sturgeon wrote: "Mackennal's achievement was to invest his classically derived and stylised allegories with genuine spirituality and calm grandeur" (op. cit., p. 70). Here I Am is a rare and apparently unique bronze cast encapsulating Mackennal's late powerfully symbolic work.